The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-03-19

are taught that ''remains of forani.
r;fera, some of them apparently iden-
teal with existing forms save been de-
tected in various places" And in the
Cretaceous rocks some of the forami-
nifera are the same as those now
dredged up from the bottom of the
ocean.
AS we ascend the scale of time. leav-
ing behind us the shadowy realms of
the far past, and come to the most ro-
cent rocks, we find the laboys of the
geologist mingled with those of the
archaologist and historian. In their
united labors we have cord of three
fold strand to draw up the full buckets
of knowledge from the wells
Of the past. In the study of
the caves, the three sciences
alluded to overlap, and their devotees
work together. Volumes of interest
ing lore, fascinating as the legends of
fairyland or the magic tales of Arabia,
are there written in the hieroglyphics
of vaulted dome and hanging stalactite.
of buried bone and coin and imple-
ment of varied use. The many races
of men who inhabited the land in pre-
historic times appear again on the
scene; something of their manner of
life is revealed. Again they hunt the
mammoth bison and bear over the
broad plains and through the thick
forests. At one time we see them,
using the dog, the horse and the hare
for food. Strange revolutions have
taken place in this matter of
diet. The dog early passed out
of favor, and its use has not been
revived. The horse was used as food
in Roman Britain and after the English
invasion; it was afterwards forbidden
by the church, because used by the
Scandinavians in honor of their god
Odin; now, it is used in France and
other countries. The Britons, how
ever, would not eat the hare-it was
held to be unlawful to do so. The re-
volving hand of time has changed this,
and we now accept the hare as fit for
| food.
Even the rude artists of those prim-
| tive times when man was cave
dweller have left us specimens of
their skill. In the caves of Dordogne, in
the south of F&lnce, are found horns
and bones with spirited carvings of
reindeer, bison, lbex, and birds done
upon them. One of the most inter-
esting of these relics is the portrait of
Il mammoth carved on the tusk of the
same, from the cave of La Msdelaine,
in Dordogne. Simple as these artistic
attempts are, they tell us that man was
not altogether uncivilized. This must
be admitted, even if we regard these
carvings as the most advanced art of
that day, which, perhaps, we have no
right to do.
What part of the art of to-day will be
recorded in the stony pages of the geo.
logical future? Not the highest, as
suredly; and SO it may have been in
the past The bold and striking,
though simHe, likeness of the mann
moth seems to tell us that the artist
had seen and hunted full often. We see
him sitting at the entrance of his cave
after the excitement of the chase and
the satisfaction of the subsequent feast,
engraving the likeness of the animal
on its own tusll! Thus, as the painter
takes simple mineral powders and vege-
table extracts, and with them makes
upon the canvas eloquent glow
ing pictures of life. so imagination
works up the dry bones of fact until the
past is again enacted before U.S.
| Chambers Journal.